Thoughts on Michigan AD Warde Manuel Leaving

It was announced earlier today that University of Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel will be stepping down at the end of the calendar year.

This feels like it has been a long time coming. I was happy when they hired Manuel because it seemed like he really cared. He wanted Michigan to be back on top. He was sick of them being simply mediocre. He was going to make changes, and the changes sounded pretty damn good to me as a fan. I had high hopes.

And boy did he deliver.

Michigan won a football and men's basketball championship under his watch. The sports program grew and got much, much better. The university became so much more than just a football school. They had the two titles, but the other programs were thriving as well. Men's gymnastics has an Olympian on the team. The women's basketball team is a constant in the tournament, and they even made a push to the Sweet Sixteen last year. The hockey team made the Frozen Four, and they have a great roster coming back for next season. The baseball team and softball team are always competitive. The men's and women's soccer teams are solid. The sports at Michigan are thriving, and a lot of that has to do with Manuel.

But he screwed up a lot as well.

Both coaches from the title teams left immediately after they won. Jim Harbaugh couldn't wait to get out of there. He claimed it was due to other extenuating circumstances, but it was also reported that he and Manuel did not have a good relationship. You could see as much at the parade. They wouldn't even look at one another during the speeches. Manuel said he was going to do whatever he could to keep Harbaugh, but we the fans saw the writing on the wall. Harbaugh was fed up with Manuel, Manuel was fed up with him, and they seperated loudly and angry with one another.

Manuel and Harbaugh were both on board with the Sherrone Moore hire, as was I, and we all saw how they unfolded. I have to believe that Manuel knows so much more about that situation than he is letting on, and now that he is on the way out, maybe he will do some kind of tell all. But all of that happened under Manuel. Maybe he tried to cover some stuff up, maybe he tried to keep some people silent, whatever it was, Manuel did a shady thing and let a very shady thing happen while he was the AD.

I was hopeful that the men's basketball team would have Dusty May for a long, long time. He turned that team around so fast. They went from 8-24 to the Sweet Sixteen to the national title. It ruled. May knew how to work the portal while still recruiting highly rated freshmen. He understood the ins and outs of NIL. He had it all. But he got up and left. He signed to be the next head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. He didn't leave the cupboard bare, but he just bounced as soon as he got a better offer. May would rather coach pros making way more money than him than stick around and become a college basketball coaching legend. He said that it was due to the current climate of college sports, which may be true. But I have to believe that there was something going on behind the scenes with him and Manuel.

Manuel claimed he had given May a humongous brand new contract, and that it was all but a done deal that he was going to be the coach at Michigan for a long, long time. But when that contract stayed unsigned by May, I got nervous. Then he left. I have to think Manuel played a hand in this. Both national title coaches were gone not even a month after winning the championship.

This is all a bummer, but don't forget some of the other stuff that has happened as of late on Manuel's time. The baseball coach that brought them to the CWS left after that season to coach at Clemson. The longtime softball coach decided to retire out of the blue. There is an ongoing investigation dealing with the whole blowout from the Moore situation. And I'm sure there's plenty of other stuff behind the scenes that I'm not privy to. Warde Manuel delivered on some of the biggest promises he made when he was announced as the AD, and for that I will be forever grateful. But he also leaves with a mess for the new AD to clean up. I do feel like this is the final semblance of the Harbaugh regime. Manuel stepping down feels like the last thing Michigan needed to fully get off all of the stuff that came with Harbaugh, May and Manuel.

I hope the new AD is as ambitious as Manuel, but goes about it the correct and honorable way. Time will tell, but at least Manuel and Michigan are finally moving on from one another. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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